Drink, Drinking...Drunk!
by ylanissima
Summary: Another insomnia night...this time Miranda is a little bit mean to her friend Gianni. Wine and other alcoholic drinks involved...


Drink, Drinking...Drunk!  
  
  
N.O.U. Laboratory   
Friday, 4:53 p.m.  
  
Miranda heard a knock on the door.   
"Come in"   
"Are you Miss Miranda Fielgstein?"  
"Yeah" she answered, turning to see who was asking. She didn't know the young man.  
"This is for you" he handled her the rectangular box wrapped in beautiful paper.  
"Who sent it?" she asked confused.  
"Sorry ma'am. I'm not allowed to say. Maybe you can find it in the little card inside" the blond guy smiled.  
"Thanks".  
She managed to unwrap the paper, not very carefully, to see what was that. It looked like a wine box. Just like the ones she was so used to see in her parents' vineyard. She finally saw it. Yeah, it really was a wine box. Santa Helena, 1999. She didn't know that one. Before opening the box and check the bottle, she saw the card, a little one. Miranda opened and read, surprised: "Happiness is not a destination. It's just a manner of traveling". She smiled for a while wondering what those words could mean. The card wasn't signed, but Miranda didn't need to see a signature to know who was the responsible for that. Nobody but Gianni Franceschini would send her wine with and a card. She put the box apart and continued her work.   
  
N.O.U. Lab,  
Friday, 6:11 p.m.   
  
"Hiya Miranda" Declan said.   
"Hey"  
"What are you doing tonight?"  
"Studying"  
"Studying? Oh, come on! It's Friday night! You should have some fun"  
"I have work to finish. Why?"  
"Peggy and I will go bowling. I thought you could join us"  
"Thanks, but I can't tonight"  
"Ok, then" he sighed looking around. "What is it?"  
"What?"  
"This bottle. Is it wine?"  
"Yeah"  
"Who sent you this?" Declan was intrigued.  
"Gianni... I guess"  
"Will you study or drink?"  
"Bit of both maybe"  
"Anyway, gotta get going. Have a nice weekend"  
"Thanks. Ya too"  
N.O.U. Lab,  
Friday, 7:55 p.m.   
  
"Argh! What a BORING class! Thought it would never be over!" Gianni entered the lab complaining.  
"Professor Waldo's class?"  
"Sure. Who else could it be? Anyway, let's get to work"  
"What part of Advanced Astronomy II don't you know?"  
"Well...I know most of it, but I just can't get some calculations done. I mean, I can do it, but it's not correct"  
"Let me take a look" she grabbed his notebook.   
He walked around the lab and found the wine bottle. It had been opened.   
"So you started without me?"  
"What?" she lifted her head see what he was talking about.   
"The wine" he hold the bottle showing her.  
"I didn't know the wine and wanted to taste it"  
"Taste it? You drank half of it!"  
"So?"  
"So... you should be drunk!"  
"I don't get drunk that easy"  
"Yeah, right. You probably pee all the alcohol already"   
"I started it only fifteen minutes before you arrive"  
"Yeah, right. Tell me the truth, Declan was here when you opened it"  
"How do you know Declan was here?"  
"I met him in the hallway. He asked me to go bowling and said he was inviting you too"  
"Why didn't you go bowling?"  
"We had agreed to study, right?" they looked at each other. "I'm sorry. If you want to go, it's still in time".   
"No, it's fine. Here's your mistake. Instead of calculating the ellipses' focus, you calculated the medium ray. It's confusing, I know"  
"Tell me. How can you pretend you're not drunk?" he asked, getting closer to her.   
"I don't have to pretend. I'm just not"  
"So let's make a bet. Ten bucks we have the same amount of alcohol in our blood after drinking half of this bottle, which makes both of us drunk".  
"Of course we'll have the same amount of alcohol, unless our metabolisms aren't good. You don't need a blood test for that" her answer was pretty skeptical.  
"I still don't believe you're not drunk"  
"You know what, Gianni? I think you get drunk very easily and now you're angry 'cause I don't"  
"Me? Easy to get drunk? HAHAHA!!!!" Gianni laughed. "It takes a lot of drinks to put me down." He smiled.  
"Really? So...how about trying wine mixed with whisky?"  
"How about Vodka, then?"  
"Do you have Vodka?"  
"Not right now"  
"So let's make it with whisky" she challenged him.   
"And where are you gonna find whisky here?"  
"Declan's office"  
"It must be locked, he's already gone"  
"So?".  
So they went to Declan's office. Miranda opened it with almost no effort.  
"How did you learn to break in people's office?"  
"Don't you surf the net?" she replied him, looking for the bottle. "Here it is. Black label, 12 years"  
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked, watching her pouring the liquid in a glass.  
"Here's the deal. We'll drink half a glass of whisky and half wine. Who meets the floor first, pay the ten bucks"  
"Done" he smiled.   
Gianni raised his whisky glass, smiled and said:  
"Cheers"  
"Cheers" Miranda replied.   
They both drank it all at once. Right after the whisky, they poured half glass of wine and drank it.   
"How do you feel?" He asked Miranda, feeling kind dizzy.   
"Pretty good. You?"  
"I must admit. It's a strong combination".   
"I know"  
Gianni stand up and walked around the office for a little while.   
"Wow! It's raining!" he said, looking through the window.  
"Yeah, it is".   
"I have an idea. I raise the bet to 20 bucks"  
"And?"  
"You don't have to drink anything. I wouldn't like to take a drunk girl home"  
Miranda just grinned.  
"What do you think? Twenty bucks I can drink five of this crazy whisky/wine mix and don't get drunk!"  
"Are you sure you want to do that?"  
"Totally"  
"Ok. Here's your second dose" she handed him the glass.   
Gianni started drinking. One, two, three doses. He could barely stand up after the fourth glass, but didn't want Miranda to see that. So he walked around and to prevent his falling, he hugged Miranda, in the back, and kissed her neck, near the ear.   
"What are you doing?" she pulled him away.  
"I'm being man. Why? Does it bother you?" he grinned, totally drunk by now.   
Miranda got closer to him and checked his eyes. They were red and his look was different. He couldn't take two steps without stumbling his own feet and laughed alone.   
"You're not gonna drink another glass" she said.  
"Yes, I am! Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?"  
"Gianni, stop. You're drunk. You can't even drive home"  
"I am not drunk, Miranda. Watch this" he got the whisky bottle and drank it all. "And this" he drank the rest of the wine".   
Miranda watched it all without saying a word.   
"See that? I'm one hundred percent fine"  
It didn't take more five minutes until Gianni ran to the office's bathroom to throw up. He couldn't stand on his legs anymore and he fell on the floor before reaching the toilet. Miranda went after him to help. She helped him to stand up and hold his arms in his back while he was throwing up. When he was done, she led him to the dusty couch.  
"Hang in there. I'll get paper towel"  
She went to the girls' bathroom, as fast as she could, got some paper towels and cleaned his mouth. He looked really nasty. She had to take his t-shirt off cause it was dirty. After cleaning his face, she gave him a mint candy.  
"It'll make your mouth taste better" she laid him in the couch. "Are you cold?"  
"A little" he whispered.   
"Here" she covered him with the blanket Declan kept in the office. "Try to get some rest" she touched his face one more time.  
  
Declan's office  
Saturday, 7:33 a.m.   
  
Gianni woke up. It took a while until he remembered why he was lying on that couch. It also explained the terrible headache he was feeling.   
"Oh, crap!" he thought. Then, he looked at the table. Miranda was sat on Declan's chair, with her head over her arms, on the table. She was asleep.   
He stood up, washed his face, grabbed another mint candy from Miranda's bag and got closer to her. He watched her for a while. She looked like a sleeping angel. Gianni thought about how stupid he had been the night before. He played a complete fool and was ashamed now. Was he mad at her? And what if she didn't want to speak to him again? He hold his breathe and watched her eyelids moving a little. She opened her eyes. He smiled at her. A sweet smile, so sincere and yet so full of shame.   
"Good morning" he said.  
Miranda lifted her head and looked at Gianni.  
"I'm so sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have done that, I know. And I understand if you don't want to speak or look at me for the rest of your life... but please, forgive me!"  
She tried to hold it, but couldn't. She smiled back at him. After all, she wasn't angry with him. He just played a fool and it was funny...such a big man acting like a child.  
"Don't worry Gianni. I'm the one who should be sorry"  
"Why?"  
" 'Cause even knowing you wouldn't resist to whisky and wine mix I challenged you" she smiled again.  
"But I was a stupid anyway. No one better than myself knows that a couple glasses of wine makes me happier than I am."  
He gave her a warm smile and hugged her.  
"Thanks. I promise I won't do that again"  
"Ok. But you still owe me twenty bucks"  
"Let's go. Coffee's on me today..."   
Gianni put his arm around Miranda's waist and they left the office. 


End file.
